- Title: CHINA: LANTERN MODEL OF HONG KONG SKYLINE ON DISPLAY
- Date: 8th June 1997
- Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (JUNE 8, 1997) (RTV) 1. GV SKYLINE OF "HONG KONG" BEHIND LAKE. 0.05 2. LV MODEL OF HONG KONG 0.09 3. SCU TALL BUILDING AMONGST CLUSTER OF BUILDINGS 0.13 4. MV PEOPLE CROWDING TOGETHER TO LOOK AT MODEL 0.19 5. SCU ZHAO LIU SHU SAYING I BELIEVE THAT HONG KONG CHINESE FEEL THE SAME AS WE DO ABOUT THE DESTRUCTION OF GREAT PLACES SUCH AS THE YUANMINGYUAN. I ALSO BELIEVE THAT THEY WANT TO PUT GREAT EFFORT INTO RECONSTRUCTING YUANMINGYUAN (MANDARIN) 0.32 6. SLV PEOPLE LOOKING AT MODEL 0.40 7. SLV SKYLINE OF "HONG KONG" WITH BLINKING ADVERTISEMENTS AND LANTERNS 0.42 8. SCU ZHAO SAYING THE MODEL OF HONG KONG WAS SET UP IN THE YUANMINGYUAN PARK IN ORDER TO VISUALISE THE CLEARING AWAY OF 100 YEARS OF DISGRACE. (MANDARIN) 1.02 9. LV/GV BUILDINGS ON "HONG KONG" WATERFRONT WITH TWO CHINESE CHARACTERS SAYING "HONG KONG" 1.12 10. SLV/SCU (DAYSHOTS) PEOPLE WALKING IN GROUNDS OF PARK WITH RUINS OF THE FRENCH MISSION (4 SHOTS) 1.32 11. SCU LU SUSHA, STUDENT, SAYING THIS PERIOD IN HisTORY INCLUDING LOSING HONG KONG IS A DISGRACE TO THE CHINESE PEOPLE. THE HANDOVER DEMONSTRATES THAT CHINA IS MORE POWERFUL NOW THAN BEFORE (MANDARIN) 1.49 12. LV RUINS IN OLD FRENCH MISSION GROUNDS 1.53 10. SLV (DAYSHOTS) "HONG KONG" SKYLINE LANTERNS 1.58 Initials S3/2 P3/2 Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
- Embargoed: 23rd June 1997 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BEIJING, CHINA
- City:
- Country: China
- Topics:
- Reuters ID: LVAC4C561I8BA8DEE286LJ7R00DZ
- Aspect Ratio:
- Story Text: - INTRO: China has built a huge model of Hong Kong and put it on public display as part of the handover celebrations.
Hundreds of sightseers crowded into a Beijing park on Sunday (June 8) night for what may be their closest glimpse of the territory soon to return to China's rule.
Officials flipped a switch to illuminate a huge cardboard model of Hong Kong's skyline.
Ironically, it was built on the grounds of a former imperial summer palace that was burned down by British and French troops in the 19th century.
After that defeat, China was forced to pay an indemnity to the invaders as well as to hand over to Britain the Kowloon Peninsula, part of the modern-day territory of Hong Kong.
It was one of a series of "unequal treaties" imposed during the 19th century opium wars as London tried to prise open China's markets.
"Very few people in China have been to Hong Kong and Hong Kong is returning to China very soon," said Zhao Liu Shu,director of the tourism administration of Beijing's Haidian district.
"So in this park we have set up this spectacle of Hong Kong for people who want to see what Hong Kong looks like," he said, gesturing toward the bright, neon-lit model city built on a small lake in the Yuanmingyuan park.
China resumes sovereignty over Hong Kong at midnight on June 30 after 156 years of British colonial rule that many of China's 1.2 billion people regard as a century-and-a-half of national shame.
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